Australian Oil Find Challenges Saudi Reserves

[Chard]

Speculating on the price of oil is not the same as hording it for military use.

Sure it is. On one hand you're investing in oil because you think the value will rise and you can profit on the change. On the other you're investing in oil as a hedge against national emergencies. One serves economic interests and the other national security interests is the only difference.

There are already electric cars on the market. A few more improvements in technology and oil could be obsolete.

These technologies have existed for a very long time now, yet the market penetration for alternative fuel, hybrid, and electric vehicles is tiny compared to petrol or LPG combustion engines. It's still a long ways off, and we'll still need a lot of petroleum products for things besides fuel.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Any one see the anti-fracking movie Promised Land? Not sure how well details from the film fact-check.

[freediver]

Using it for things other than fuel would still see the price plummet and most of the industry wiped out.

There are ads on TV for electric cars that cost as little as $2 to recharge. The fact that they can compete at all would make anyone with money invested in oil very nervous.

[IQS.RLOW]

Using it for things other than fuel would still see the price plummet and most of the industry wiped out.

There are ads on TV for electric cars that cost as little as $2 to recharge. The fact that they can compete at all would make anyone with money invested in oil very nervous.

You just won first prize in the "stupidest post of the week" competition.

Do you really think your dinky little electric cars make anyone nervous?

[Chard]

Using it for things other than fuel would still see the price plummet and most of the industry wiped out.

You have absolutely no idea of just how many products utilize petroleum as part of their production or operation, do you? Hell, just in the energy market you've got heavy oil, kerosene (including various distillates used as aviation fuels), diesel, and dozens of specialized distillates used to power everything from powertools to heavy lift rockets. That's before we even get anywhere near the various materials, lubricants, chemicals, ect that simply cannot be made without petroleum.

Trust me, you and I will never see a world without massive and highly profitable oil companies in it. Get used to it, better, invest in them and make some coin for yourself off the deal.

[Jovial_Monk]

A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water
Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty

Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime to no effect. But it still did not prepare her for the night last month when she turned on the tap and discovered the tiny town where she had made her home for 35 years was out of water.

"The day that we ran out of water I turned on my faucet and nothing was there and at that moment I knew the whole of Barnhart was down the tubes," she said, blinking back tears. "I went: 'dear God help us. That was the first thought that came to mind."

Across the south-west, residents of small communities like Barnhart are confronting the reality that something as basic as running water, as unthinking as turning on a tap, can no longer be taken for granted.

Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry's outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.

In Texas alone, about 30 communities could run out of water by the end of the year, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... l-no-water" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah, we don’t need green or red tape, FFS!